The Most Important Thing
by Perkulator
Summary: Jason has a difficult assignment on his first day back at school after the events of Superman Returns


Author's Note: I haven't had a chance to get this beta'd yet, but after sitting on the story for the past week, I decided to post it anyway, so there may be some slight revisions as the reviews come in. As always: I don't own Superman, Lois, Jason, Richard or Jimmy, but I've done my best to take good care of them, and will put them away properly when I'm done.

The Most Important Thing

Jason frowned up at the clock on the classroom wall, carefully remembering the numbers and the hands and what they all meant. Normally he liked school, but today he couldn't wait for it to be over so he could go to the Planet with Mommy and Daddy.

"How's it coming, Jason?" Mrs. DeCarlo asked, stopping by his chair.

The blank paper in front of him spoke for itself. "Having a little trouble getting started?" she sympathized.

He nodded.

Bending down beside him, she said, "If you can't think of the thing that scared you most, or made you the most excited last week, why don't you draw a picture of the most important thing that happened?"

He nodded again and picked up a crayon, looking off into the distance like Mommy did when she was concentrating on a story. Mrs. DeCarlo smiled at him and moved on to where Frank was drawing on the table again.

The problem wasn't that he couldn't think of something scary or exciting or important. The problem was that there was so much: How he'd gone with Mommy on Lex Luthor's ship, how Mr. Luthor was going to destroy the world and kill Superman, how he'd played the piano with that bad man with the dog on his head, and then when the bad man had tried to kill Mommy, how he'd thrown the piano at him. How Daddy had come to save them, and how Superman had come to save them when they were all about to drown. How they'd gone back to save Superman when _he'd_ been about to drown, and the green Kryptonite knife-thing Mommy had pulled out of him. How Superman had said good-bye to Mommy when he'd flown off. How he and Mommy had gone to see Superman in the hospital. And finally, how Superman had come to see _him_--Jason--when he got out of the hospital.

It was just like an episode of The Amazings, the TV show about the family of superheroes, except better, because it was real!

But he didn't want to talk about any of it. It was all too--_personal_--as one of Mommy's interview subjects said once.

Still, he had to do _something_... He thought hard, and started drawing.

"All right, class," Mrs. DeCarlo said a few minutes later. "Let's sit down on the carpet and share our drawings about what happened last week." Jason picked up his drawing and joined the rest of his class on the carpet. The other kids had all drawn pictures about the blackout, the earthquake, or how Superman had been sick. Jason looked down at his picture, and frowned.

"Jason, it's your turn to share."

Reluctantly, Jason held up his picture. His teacher blinked. She must have heard about what had happened with Mommy last week, because she seemed surprised. "How, umm, nice, Jason."

The rest of the kids must have heard too, because Danny asked, "What is that?" in almost exactly the same voice Mommy had used when Lex Luthor had shown her the Kryptonite.

Jason explained, "It's Mommy, on the phone."

"But we were supposed to draw about something important. Your mom on the phone is just _dumb_." Danny announced.

Mrs. DeCarlo finally intervened. "Daniel, that will be enough. If Jason thinks that his mom on the phone is the most important thing that happened last week, then that's up to him." Even she didn't sound like she believed what she was saying, though.

Jason opened his mouth to protest. It was _too_ important. After they'd landed, and found out Superman was in the hospital, Mommy had had a call from the people at the Pulitzer to pick another time for the awards dinner. Mommy had started crying and said that she "couldn't accept the Pulitzer for that article." When Mommy first won the award, she'd explained that it was one of the biggest awards a reporter could get. So for her to say she didn't want it anymore was _very_ important, because it meant that she wasn't mad at Superman anymore. And he knew she wasn't mad because they'd smiled at one another when Superman had flown by to visit after waking up last night. But that was all part of the stuff that was too "personal". Jason closed his mouth and put down his drawing as they moved onto the next person.

"Bo-ring." Danny muttered to Jason.

Jason looked back up at the clock.

It seemed like school went on _forever_ today, but finally 2:30 arrived and Daddy came to pick him up.

"So how was school?" Daddy said as he started the car and they drove off.

"O.K." Jason said. Talking about Superman seemed to make Daddy sad (a different kind of sad from Mommy's, but still sad) for some reason, so he'd already decided not to mention the pictures the class had shared. Still, Daddy seemed to be expecting him to say something, so he went on, "We learned a song about frogs today."

"Did you really?" Daddy glanced back and smiled.

"Yeah. They sit on a log and eat bugs."

Daddy laughed, and it was the first time Jason remembered him laughing since the whole thing with the island. "I think I know that one. " He paused a moment. "Hey, Jason, I'm going to have to drop you off at the Planet. There's a problem out at one of the satellite offices, and Perry needs me to go out and deal with it."

"O.K." Jason said again. "And when you get back, Daddy, can we go to the park?"

Daddy's face seemed to freeze for just a second and Jason knew he'd somehow stumbled onto part of what made Daddy sad, even when he was trying not to. "Sure, Jason, we can go to the park when I get back." He forced a smile again. "Now tell me more about these frogs."

Traffic was slow, so Daddy had to stop the car in front of the Planet building when they got there. "Are you OK going up on your own?" he asked as he let Jason out. "You can come with me, if you want."

Except that today Jason really wanted to go to the Planet offices. He nodded. "I'm fine."

The cars behind Daddy honked loudly and he frowned first at them, and then at his watch. "OK." He messed Jason's hair up, just a little, and said. "Go right in. You remember the floor?"

Jason nodded again. "Bye!" He waved as Daddy got back in the car and drove off.

Everyone at the Daily Planet knew him. Marlene the receptionist waved at him as he came through the revolving door, and Mr. Singer from the floor above Mommy and Daddy's helped him push the button on the elevator.

Mommy was standing by the elevator when the doors opened. "Hi honey!" she said. "I was just coming down to get you. Did you have a good day at school?"

He nodded and gave her a hug. "Yes."

"Good." She gave him a kiss. "We're all on deadline, today, honey, so you need to stay by my desk, and not bother people, OK?"

"OK, Mommy." A lot had happened this weekend, so Jason wasn't surprised that they were on deadline.

Mommy sat him down at a desk near hers with a box of crayons and some paper and started making phone calls, which she must have been doing before he came. Jason looked around the bustling office, noting the empty desk across the room.

Jimmy walked by on the way to the coffee pot. Since he was already up, Jason figured it wouldn't be bothering him to talk to him. Tugging on Jimmy's sleeve, he asked, "Is Mr. Kent back today?"

Jimmy looked over at the empty desk. "Clark? Yeah, he's back. He was here just a minute ago..." He searched the room for a moment, not seeing the slouching suit-clad figure. "He probably just had to use the bathroom or something."

Up on the television over the desks, Superman was helping construction workers fix a building that had been damaged in the earthquake.

"...I'm sure he'll be back soon." Jimmy continued, glancing up at the live newscast.

Jason nodded.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Clark Kent walked back into the office, straightening his tie. He glanced briefly up at the TV, where the anchors were talking about the story, and grinned.

Mommy was still on the phone, making notes, so she didn't notice Jason get up and go over to Mr. Kent's desk.

"Hi!" Jason said.

Seeing him, Mr. Kent got a huge grin on his face. "Hello there!"

"I'm glad you're feeling better." Jason told him.

"Thanks. So am I." Clark said. "Is there something can I do for you, Jason?" Saying Jason's name seemed to make him grin just a little more.

Jason reached up and twisted some of Mr. Kent's hair around his finger and let it go. The little curl hung down over Mr. Kent's forehead like an S. For Superman.

For a second, he wondered if Clark would be mad at him, but he just smiled at Jason and touched his finger to his lips. Jason nodded. Then Clark glanced around quickly to see if anyone noticed, and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling the curl straight. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"Here," said Jason. "I made this for you." Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the picture he had drawn last night, after Superman had flown away, of him and Mommy, waving at Superman as he flew up towards the night sky.

Clark smiled. Jason thought he might be about to cry, but he didn't. Instead, Clark took the picture and carefully hung it behind his phone list. "Thanks, Jason. I'll put it right here." Where he could look at it but no one else could. Jason understood. It was all part of the secret. Just like Mr. Amazing.

They smiled at one another.

"Jason!" Mommy rushed over. "I thought I told you not to bother anyone."

Clark suddenly started acting all geeky again. "Oh, uh, it's OK. He wasn't. Umm, bothering me, that is."

Mommy frowned like she didn't believe him and went on, "Come on, honey. We have to go out for a few minutes. I have an interview to follow up on."

Jason groaned. "Ohh, do I _have_ to?"

Clark pushed his glasses back on his nose. "You know, uh, Lois. If you want, I can watch him while you're out."

This time, Mommy paid attention. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

Clark shook his head. "It would be a pleasure," he said, not sounding quite as geeky as before.

Mommy checked her watch. "All right," she said reluctantly. "I won't be gone long, and Richard should be back soon, too, if I get held up."

"No problem," Clark said cheerfully.

"Bye honey! Be good, OK?" Mommy gave Jason a hug and a kiss.

"Bye!" Jason said, waving, as she hurried off.

"Bye, Lois," Clark waved, too.

They both watched her get onto the elevator, and then Jason climbed into Clark's lap. "What are you working on?"

"A story about the shuttle disaster last week."

"I thought Mommy already did a story about that."

"She did," Clark explained. "There were a few more details I wanted to look into."

Jason nestled back against Clark's chest, and watched him type, feeling the raised "S" of the Superman suit through Clark's vest. Superman was home.

_That_ was the most important thing.


End file.
